Mass Effect: The Marathon Files
by He who is AWESOME
Summary: First fanfic: 27 years after Commander Shepard ended the Reaper War, a new team faces new threats in the galaxy. First in a series. Rated M mostly for language. RedHawk09's story Mass Effect 3: Deception is SORT OF a prequel to this; I explain why at the end of chapter 6. Thank you for letting me do that, Red. Please, PLEASE read and review.
1. Chapter 1

**Greetings, humans! I am He who is AWESOME, and I present to you my first fanfic! It is a Mass Effect future fic, set after the end of Mass Effect 3. If you want, RedHawk09's story "**_**Mass Effect 3: Deception**_**" is kind of a prequel to this, showing a different ending to Mass Effect 3; I'll wait here while you read that. Fair warning: the characters here use a combo of ME1 and ME3 equipment, like for example a ME1 Avenger X sniper rifle with a ME3 Sniper Rifle Concentration Module III, so keep that in mind and there shouldn't be any confusion. Oh, and brackets [] are for in-story author's notes. Anyway, enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Mass Effect franchise or any of its characters or concepts; the name of this website makes that kinda obvious.**

**Mass Effect: The Marathon Files**

**Chapter 1: Ah, Memories**

_Purgatory Lower Bar, Citadel, July 9, 2213_

"Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!"

That was all I heard from Rex and Boomer as I struggled to beat Rage in a hotdog eating contest. I lost; don't know why I thought the end result would be any different. No one in the Alliance could beat former 2nd Lieutenant Dwayne "Rage" Carlton in any kind of eating or drinking contest. Considering we've been trying to do so all week and failing, it should be taken as a fact.

My name is Lucas "Luke" Rider, 2nd Lt. of the Systems Alliance Marines and second-in-command of Fireteam Neo. First Lieutenant Aaron "Rex" MacAdams, leader of Neo, Gunnery Chief Robert "Boomer" Thomas, and I were on liberty leave on the Citadel, visiting Rage after he was discharged from the Marines.

_-About two months earlier-_

_The thing about pirate suppression raids is that you never know how they're going to go. Case in point: right now. Our ship, the SSV Marathon, was sent on what we assumed was going to be an easy mission: go to a pirate base that Alliance Intel recently identified as the source of some recent attacks in the Attican Traverse, and destroy it. We…kind of underestimated the firepower that these pirates had._

_These pirates had a pretty sophisticated operation going on here. We were supposed to go in by Mako, but there was a high-tech surveillance and security system that Alliance Intel failed to tell us about. The four of us managed to get close to the entrance of the base before pirates with guns and rocket launchers had us pinned. Our only cover was a few large rocks and the Mako itself. We were holding our own pretty well, that is until a rocket hit the ground and exploded near Rage, severely injuring him. We got him to safety, even though this pirate band of batarians and humans (rare combination there, even in this day and age) were starting to close in on us. We may be good -I myself Sabotaged and sniped most of the guys with rocket launchers- but sometimes even Neo needs help. _

_About four minutes earlier, Rex called in an airstrike on the base: the Marathon was busy engaging the pirates' ship (couldn't have been any bigger than a corvette), and would be delayed. Four minutes later, as these guys were closing in, Marathon swooped in from the sky, fired a single disruptor torpedo at the base, and launched the Kodiak shuttle, all in about 2.4 seconds. The Marathon's dramatic entrance and explosion of the base distracted the pirates for a split second, giving us an opening to start mowing them down, with the help of the shuttle's guns of course._

_We got the hell outta there and got Rage to the nearest Alliance base, where his injuries ended up costing him most of his left leg, as well as more tragically (his words, not mine), his flawless complexion._

_It was just one 2-inch scar over his eye; drama queen._

_-Back in the present-_

So Dwayne was honorably discharged (he had a pretty good service record), got a robot leg, and found an apartment on the Citadel. He got lucky; after repairing the damage inflicted upon the Citadel during the Reaper War, apartments on the Presidium are still pretty cheap. The Marathon docked at the Citadel six days ago and Rex, Boomer and I were given a week's liberty, so we've been hanging out with Rage all week. As it turns out, Dwayne "Rage" Carlton can go from complaining about a 2-inch facial scar to using it to pick up chicks at the bar not just for himself, but for all of us. Maybe I should get a scar on my face, too. Hmmm…

Rex stood up and held out his hand. "It's been good seein' ya, Rage," he said, "but I think it's time we got back to the ship. If we wait till tomorrow I have a feeling that the captain'll have all our asses."

We all had a laugh at that. We all shook hands, said our goodbyes to Rage, and headed back to the docking bay. When the elevator came to a stop at the gangway, we had a surprise waiting for us…

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

**So? What do you think so far? I promise it gets better and the action scenes will be more detailed in the coming chapters. The first chapter's usually the least entertaining, so feel free to leave a review. Chapter 2 is coming up! Estimated time to arrival: I don't know; I don't really estimate how long this will take me, but since spring break is almost upon those of us who are in college, I wouldn't expect to have to wait very long.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Aloha! Welcome to another chapter of "Mass Effect: The Marathon Files". Once again I am He who is AWESOME, and I still recommend reading RedHawk09's story "**_**Mass Effect 3: Deception**_**" as a sorta-kinda prequel to this, but it won't be incredibly important until later on. Oh, and a reminder: brackets [] are my shorthand for in-story author's notes. Now then, on with the story!**

**Chapter 2: FNG**

_Docking Bay 413, Citadel, July 9, 2213. _

The SSV Marathon SR-3 (yes, "SR" as in "Stealth Reconnaissance", as in like the legendary Normandy). I like her; she was built about ten years ago when Alliance brass decided to build another stealth ship in line with the Normandy. Commander Shepard recommended they use the same basic hull design of the original Normandy SR-1; said the smaller Normandy was both more tactically flexible, since it could land on virtually any solid planet, and it felt more… "homey", I believe was the word he used. Given the Commander's hero status, they listened.

So anyway, me, Rex, and Boomer are at the gangway, and we see a girl, no more than 25 years old, and it seems almost like she's waiting for us. I'm 6'1, so she was maybe 5'10, 5'11. She had blue eyes, straight, black hair (blacker than Boomer) that framed her face and ended about an inch above her shoulders, bangs, and probably the tightest body any of us had seen all week. Boomer leaned toward Rex and me and whispered the one word the three of us were all thinking before looking back at this girl: "Day-amn".

We reached the girl and stood there, probably looking like complete idiots. "Hello, boys," she said, in a voice that I could swear she was trying to seduce us. Rex and I stood there with slightly confused looks on our faces while our resident black guy/perpetual erection walked closer to this girl and made quite possibly the most hilarious mistake either Rex or I have ever seen him make, and earlier this week we watched him get so wasted from drinking a pint of krogan liquor that he tried to pick up a salarian C-Sec officer that his inebriated brain thought was an asari pole dancer. I miss Rage already.

So, he walks up really close to this girl and says in a low voice, "What's up, baby? Gunnery Chief Robert Thomas at your service. What's your name?" Next thing we know, Robbie is thrown back a good 8 feet, and that's how we found out she was a biotic.

"Elianna. Operations Chief Elianna Shepherd. Call me Ellie" she said as an answer to Boomer's question. You'd think he would've learned his lesson. Wait, did she say her last name was Shepard? Nah, probably a different Shepherd; it's not like it's the most uncommon last name in the universe.

"Ops Chief, huh? I've never had a superior officer before." Like I said, perpetual erection.

"Keep it up and in all likelihood you never will, Mr. Thomas," another female voice said. It was the voice of Captain Adriana Lander, commanding officer of SSV Marathon. We all immediately stood at attention. The captain was a woman in her mid to late 30s, tall, fit, brown eyes, and red hair that she always kept in a bun. "From the looks of it, I assume you boys have all met Ms. Shepherd. She's a Vanguard, Robert, and she will be joining the crew as the newest member of Fireteam Neo. Rider, you give her a tour of the ship. We leave in five, briefing's in the comm room in ten. Dismissed."

"Yes ma'am," we replied before boarding the ship. The airlock is on Deck 1, so Ellie and I started our tour there. Wait, what? Why do I have to show the fucking FNG around the ship? Wait, that's redundant. Whatever. Ah, well. Might as well get this over with fast; don't wanna pull a Boomer if there's a lull. That's something I'd enjoy at first but later regret when it gets me in trouble.

Ok, Deck 1 has the cockpit, with our pilot Flight Lt. Jason "JC" Carlisle, the CIC, and the Comm Room. Down the stairs to Deck 2, we have the bathrooms under the staircases [only place I could think of to put the bathrooms; you can't find any on the Normandy in the game].

"Ok, so over there's the Med Bay. Dr. Alan Robertson is our CMO, great guy. Tends to ramble, so if you're ever in there and he starts monologuing, just sneak out the door when he's not looking; he won't hold it against you," I explained to Ellie about our Chief Medical Officer.

"Thanks for the tip," she replied with a chuckle. Ok, now we go on to my favorite part of the ship, Deck 3. We rode the elevator down in a… comfortable silence. The elevator door opened, and we walked out into the hangar. Like the original Normandy, on the right side of the hangar was an M35 Mako. Unlike the original Normandy, however, the left side of the hangar has not only the squad lockers, but also a UT-47A Kodiak shuttle. A guy with a shaved head was at work on the shuttle, and another guy, this one with a fohawk, was working on the Mako.

"Yuri, RJ, front and center, guys," I ordered, not exactly sounding very authoritative. "Guys, this is the newest member of our team, Operations Chief Elianna Shepherd. Ellie, this is Corporal Yuri Morizovski, our shuttle pilot, and Mr. Fohawk here is Corporal Ryan Jamison, our Mako driver."

"Nice to meet you guys," she said, shaking both their hands. I led her over to the squad lockers.

"These are of course the squad lockers, yours is the one next to mine," I explained, realizing too late the awkwardness I've been set up for. She bent down to put some stuff into her locker; I was stuck with her ass staring back at me. I looked away before she caught me.

"So tell me about yourself," she said, not even looking back up at me. Trying hard not to sound like I'm fighting a boner, I started, "Um, well… not too much to tell. Me and Aaron - the guy that didn't try to hit on you out on there – we grew up together on a colony on the inner border between Alliance space and the Traverse. He joined the Marines right outta high school. I spent a year in college, but I dropped out and joined the Marines. Aaron and I were lucky enough to end up on the same squad each tour since."

"Cool."

"Uh, how 'bout you?"

"Me? Well-"

"Fireteam Neo, report to the Comm Room."

Damn it to hell. Wait, that was ten minutes? That went by fast. Anyway, there's something about this chick. I don't know what it is, but there is something. Guess I'll have to wait until later to find out. We rushed back up to Deck 1, Aaron and Robert were waiting for us outside the Comm Room. We went in, and Captain Lander was waiting for all of us, ready to get to this briefing. Based on the expression on her face, this was definitely not another pirate suppression raid.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Ok, I got a text from a friend while writing this chapter, so let me clarify something: RedHawk09's story "**_**Mass Effect 3: Deception**_**" is… an optional prequel. It's not necessary to read that before this, kinda like how you can watch the original Star Wars trilogy without having seen the prequels. Red's story will explain some things that will come up later on in this. I got his permission to use his story to explain said things and he said I could say it was sort of a prequel to my story.**


	3. Chapter 3

**He who is AWESOME here with another chapter of The Marathon Files! Don't worry; this one'll be the best so far. Also, it seems I forgot the disclaimer last chapter, but like I said in chapter 1, the name of this site kind of implies that I don't own this stuff. But just to be safe…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect; I mean, I own copies of Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 3, but you know what I mean.**

**Reminder: the brackets [] are my shorthand for author's notes. That'll come up a lot here.**

**Chapter 3: The Raid**

Captain Lander looked serious; like, more serious than we've seen her in a long time. Knowing how hardcore serious she could get, we immediately sat our asses down. A hologram of a planet projected from the Comm Room ceiling [it also has a QEC, in case you're curious].

"Neo, I present to you Merracronth, a desolate moon in the Attican Traverse bordering the Terminus Systems," she explained. "This rock has really no strategic value, however there seem to be communications emanating from the surface. These communication signals are not on any known military, government, or civilian frequencies. What's more interesting is that over the last month, whenever there's been an uptick in these signals, there have been multiple coordinated strikes by terrorists or pirates or whatever you wanna call 'em, in both turian and Alliance space. Intelligence does not believe in coincidences, so they want this place shut down."

Elianna spoke up. "Captain, if they want the place shut down, why not just blast the shit out of it from orbit?" I have to admit, that was an excellent question.

"I asked the same thing, and I'll relay their answer: there is very little starship traffic in the system, even less to Merracronth. Alliance brass thinks it's a communication relay station, coordinating insurgent strikes across numerous sectors. Command wants Neo to go in, shut down the transmitter, and if possible, grab some intel so we can find out where these insurgents' command center is so we can shut down the attacks at the source." Alright, sounds good. One question: how exactly are we gonna go about doing this little op?

"Alright, sounds good. One question: how exactly are we gonna go about doing this little op?" Dude! Rex stole my question! Then the hologram changed to that of a 2-story building built into the side of a hill so that the rear entrance was on the second floor.

"Glad you asked. Rex, you and Robert will go by Mako and hit the front of the compound. Meanwhile, the shuttle will drop Luke and Ellie off by the back. Rex, Boomer, you guys are to distract the compound's security while Luke and Ellie infiltrate the base and shut down communications and hack the system for information. Anything else? No? Ok, then get down to the armory and get ready."

We got up, left the Comm Room, and went down the stairs. While Rex, Ellie, and I went for the elevator, Boomer went for the bathroom. Ellie, being a little confused, went ahead and asked the question. "Um… where are you going?"

"Captain said to get ready, right? That's what I'm doing. I always take a piss before a mission, whether I need to or not. That way I don't got no distractions in action."

Rex added a little more to Boomer's explanation, seeing that Ellie still looked just a little bit confused. "Don't worry; you'd think he'd slow down our getting ready, but he doesn't."

"Ooohhh…kay then."

Down the elevator we go. We got out onto the hangar and started suiting up. My armor is [level X] Onyx medium armor that I upgraded with a [level X] Kinetic Exoskeleton and a [level X] Medical Exoskeleton. I'm an Infiltrator-Commando so I'm usually the team sniper, but since Ellie and I'll be on the inside, the mobile accuracy boost of my suit's Kinetic Exoskeleton will be useful I think. Standard Infiltrator training post-basic training is in omni-tools, sniper rifles, and pistols; fortunately I had extra specialist training with assault rifles too [which basically means Assault Rifles is his ME1 Bonus Talent].

I looked around and saw the rest of the team gearing up as well. Rex already had on his light Onyx armor upgraded with a Medical Exoskeleton [X] and a Shield Interface [X]. Our fearless leader (he actually does have plenty of fears, just not really in combat) is an Adept-Bastion, and since he uses his biotic powers more often that his guns, he uses a Recon Hood instead of a helmet, because the Hood's auto-targeting system ensures that every shot he actually fires counts. I see Boomer's already down here, putting on his heavy Onyx armor that he upgraded to, and I quote, "eat bullets so they can be spit right back." Translation: Boomer is a Soldier-Shock Trooper, and his armor is upgraded with a Shield Interface [X] and Energized Plating [X] so he can take a ridiculous amount of punishment and keep right on shooting.

I looked over to Ellie and asked, "What kind of armor you got?"

"Medium Onyx with a Medical Exoskeleton [X], Combat Exoskeleton [X], and an Archon Visor. I'm a Vanguard-Shock Trooper, and with those upgrades I can smash the bad guys faster than they can smash me, just the way I like it," she answered, before looking around at all of us and saying "And yes, before any of you ask, the armor boobs do in fact provide support like a bra."

One question answered, and another one answered before it was even asked. Ellie and I got on the shuttle, Rex and Boomer got inside the Mako, and both vehicles launched from the hangar (well, actually the shuttle launched; the Mako was sort of flung out). We were launched a few clicks away from the base to avoid any sensors. The Mako drove straight for the front of the base, while the shuttle flew a wide path around to the back. Watching the screen inside the shuttle, I saw the Mako pull up in front of the base and start shooting. We heard Rex over the comm.

"Team one has engaged. Enemy security forces are focused on us. Team two, begin infiltration."

"Team two entering now," I said over the radio as the shuttle dropped us off at the back entrance. The door was locked, which is why I am thankful for my omni-tool. The door opened to reveal an enemy guard that Ellie quickly dispatched with her shotgun. I hacked a computer terminal that we found in the hallway.

"Let's see… Blah, blah, blah, environmental controls, blah, blah, blah, useless structural information, yes! Floor plan, here we go. Okay, the transmitter control room is on the bottom floor, let's go!"

"Hey! You! Stop right there!" A guard noticed us, three of his buddies noticed him noticing us, and were all totally unaware of who they were messing with. I zapped the lot of them with Sabotage, and Ellie used Pull to yank them all toward her just to be blown away by her shotgun. She Pulled them in single file and killed all four of them with a single blast, and that's how I noticed that her shotgun, a standard issue Hahne-Kedar Storm [X] had a [level V] High-Velocity Barrel on it [I don't know what the level V looks like, so picture in your brain a Storm shotgun with a level I High-Velocity Barrel, but with the level V stats].

"Let's go! Before more goons show up!" She yelled at me and we ran down the hallway.

_-Meanwhile, outside the base (3__rd__ person)-_

"RJ! Hit the turret-gunner on the roof!" Rex ordered the Mako driver over the radio. The Mako's main gun turned and fired on a small, manned antitank turret on the roof, but not before it got off one last rocket in straight at the Mako. Using some deft biotics, Rex quickly used a mass effect field to cause the rocket to just barely overshoot the Mako. While doing that, he didn't notice that A) he had exposed himself to enemy fire, and B) a bad guy with a rocket launcher was taking aim at him less than 15 meters away.

"Rex!" Boomer shouted as he ran out of cover, firing his Lancer assault rifle and killing the rocket launcher guy as well as the guy behind the rocket launcher guy. Boomer continued firing at enemy forces coming in from one side, while Rex cast a Singularity on a large group of enemies coming around from the other side and quickly used his pistol and headshot them all.

"How much longer can you keep this up?" Rex shouted at Boomer.

"I can go on all day! But that's not to say I wouldn't mind Luke and Ellie hurrying up!" Boomer replied as a grenade he had tossed exploded, killing another 7 terrorists while he was still shooting his rifle at yet more bad guys.

"Amen to that!" Rex agreed as she set off a Biotic Explosion, killing three more enemies.

_-Back inside the base (and back to Luke's POV)-_

Okay, so the only way to the transmitter control room on the bottom floor was to go through the ventilation ducts (the elevator would've been too obvious and/or dangerous). We found the room; there was only one guard. I went in first; using Tactical Cloak (which I actually don't use very often) I snuck up on the guard and stabbed him in the jugular with my omni-blade. Ellie came down from the air duct as I made my way to the single computer console in the room. I started hacking in.

"Y'know, all the guards we've encountered have all been humans. This far into frontier space, and this close to the Terminus Systems, it's a little unusual," Ellie observed.

"Yeah, it is weird. But right now we have a job to do, so let's focus on that," I replied. "Okay, I'm almost at the transmitter control functions. If I can shut it down, -oh, crap! There's a backup signal transducer that passes through this console and onto the main transmitter. If I try to bypass it, shut down the backup transducer and then go back I shut down the main one-"

I was interrupted by Ellie firing her shotgun at two large metal tubes that she must've assumed were the primary and secondary transducer conduits. "There. Does that work?" She asked.

"It actually did. The transmitter is now off-line. Ooh, these finals look interesting. Copy to omni-tool, and look at this! Just make sure this damage is permanent, I can set the actual transmitter to self-destruct. Initiating countdown…now." The screen started counting down from 60. "Okay, we've got the intel, the transmitter's disabled and about to blow up, I vote we get out of here."

"Seconded." We ran for the stairs. We ran out the front door, and coming out the front door I Sabotaged two large groups of enemies on either side, and Ellie shotgunned them. We ran for the Mako, which fired one last shot from its main gun at the door we had just exited from seven seconds earlier. Just as we were boarding the Mako, the transmitter exploded, causing secondary explosions that destroyed the base. The Mako drove away and the Marathon picked us up. All in all, I'd call that a job well done.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

**See? I told you this chapter would be better! A combination of spring break and nothing good being on television will probably motivate me to complete at least another 2 to 3 chapters by the weekend. Please read and review and see you later!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, chapter 4, here we go. I started this chapter on March 17, so I give you all a late "Happy St. Patrick's Day!"**

**Disclaimer: yeah, yeah, I don't own Mass Effect, yada yada yada.**

**Chapter 4: Smash and Grab**

_SSV Marathon Comm Room, July 9, 2213_

"Excellent work, Neo. That communications base is down and out," Captain Lander said. "Luke, did you get any intel?"

"I got some files off the computer, ma'am, but I might need a few hours to find the information we're looking for."

"You've got one. Meet back here in one hour; Neo, dismissed."

_-One hour later-_

"All right, Lucas, what do we have?" The captain asked.

"A problem, ma'am," I answered. "The base on Merracronth was definitely the 'control' part of the 'command and control' system these terrorists have. Orders were received from the same IP address, but never the same coordinates. Based on the amount of information transmitted with each set of orders, I'd say we're looking at a ship as the base of whoever's in charge. That's only part of the problem we have. According to the most recent communication received on Merracronth, it looks like the attacks in both Alliance and turian space were diversions for a weapons smuggling operation intended to lure an Alliance VIP -it doesn't say who- into a trap. The trap has already been sprung, and the VIP is going to be traded to our terrorists in exchange for a final shipment of weapons."

"Where is this exchange taking place and when?" Rex asked.

"The Esuoh system, the planet Raozeb [I made those up] in two days. Luckily for us, these terrorists and their customers were stupid enough to not only give us the geographic coordinates of the exchange, but also a diagram of the exchange location." I pressed a couple of buttons on my omni-tool, and a hologram of a horseshoe-shaped depression with a small building at the vertex. "This building does not seem to have any long-range sensors, and the hills surrounding the depression are filled with caves and overhangs that hide anything underneath from orbital scanning…" I explained my plan to the team. The Captain Ok'ed it, and the ship flew off for Esuoh.

_-Raozeb, 2nd moon, July 11, 2213-_

"Captain, the buyer's ship has entered orbit of Raozeb's third moon," JC said over the intercom.

"You hear that, Neo? The exchange is about to go down. Stop it, get the VIP, and capture a high-ranking bad guy if possible. But the VIP is you priority," the captain told us over the communicator. We were already in position on the third moon, set up to ambush the terrorists, their customers, and rescue this Alliance VIP. Rex and Boomer were in the Mako, which was hidden under a small rock outcrop just outside the depression in which this exchange was gonna go down. Ellie and I were set up on top of the hill overlooking the area from the side, me in a sniping position, Ellie ready and waiting to jump into the action. The terrorists, and their goods, were waiting at the closed end of the horseshoe. A large shuttle landed at the open end of the valley, and the clock started ticking.

"Shuttle door's opening; watching for VIP," I whispered into my helmet radio. The customers were turian, which in all honesty is kind of weird. They were bringing out a human, the VIP no doubt, but I still didn't have a clear view. They tossed him onto the ground, and from there I could see he had some kind of helmet on his head with an attached collar that was connected to shackles on his hands and feet, which were connected to a vest he was wearing. My guess: explosive vest. These jerks are hard-core.

"We are go for smash and grab," I said with a quick hand gesture to Ellie, and she jumped in with a Biotic Charge. At the exact second she landed I shot one of the turian guards that had dragged out the VIP. Also at the exact second Ellie landed the Mako moved in and fired on the turians' shuttle while Rex and Boomer disembarked and started shooting (and, y'know, using biotics in Rex's case). Ellie was tearing it up on the opposite end, plowing through the human terrorists with an impressive combination of biotics and her shotgun, which, through my scope, I noticed had a lip-print on it. I provided covering fire for the VIP, who was still on the ground, while at the same time covering my friends. Because of the amount of people I had to cover, I did not notice a turian climbing up the hill about 10 meters away from me until I saw a blip on my radar. He was literally almost right on top of me; I put down the sniper rifle, did a quick roll to my left while drawing my pistol. I shot him, rolled back over and picked up my sniper rifle, turned on my Tactical Cloak, and headed for the end of the valley for another firing position. Stupid me, forgetting one of the cardinal rules for a sniper: never fire more than two rounds from a single firing position.

While I was repositioning, the rest of the team had whittled the bad guys down to only three turians: a female, who must've been the leader of this group based on the fact that she walked out of the shuttle first, and two guards. While I was repositioning, it seems that the female grabbed hold of the VIP, held a gun to his head, and started backing up toward a second shuttle that was used by the terrorists to drop off their goods. Boomer, Rex, and Ellie had them cornered, but the gun to the VIP's head was complicating matters. I had just gotten my eye to the scope when luck turned in our favor. Rex took a step, which the turian leader didn't like, and she moved her gun from the VIP's head and pointed it at him, shouting not to move, probably.

What happened after the turian pointed her gun at Rex, I swear it all happened in literally 1.2 seconds: she points her gun at Rex, and the gun ends up right in the center of my crosshairs. I took the shot; purely on instinct. My bullet knocked the gun out of her hand, Ellie used Pull on the VIP to get him out of the turian's grasp, while at the same time Rex immobilized the female with Stasis with one hand and shot one of her bodyguards with the other, and Boomer shot the other bodyguard with his assault rifle while at the same time throwing a grenade at the terrorists' shuttle, blowing it up. Again, that all happened in a little over a second. Probably the single greatest example of unit cohesion in Alliance military history.

I slid down the hill and ran to the team as Rex was cuffing the turian. I didn't know whether or not I should say what was on my mind because we still had a VIP who may or may not need medical attention. Fortunately, Boomer took the words right out of my mouth.

"Woohoo! Did you guys see that? That was incredible! I think it's safe to say that humans are evolving towards telepathic powers because that's the only explanation I can think of to explain how we pulled off last bit with that level of precision coordination. Alright! Yeah!"

We couldn't help but laugh at that. But then Rex got us serious again; that's why he's the boss. "All right, calm down, Robbie, we still have a VIP as well as this prisoner to take back to the Marathon. Yuri, would you mind picking us up?"

"On my way, comrade," Yuri responded in his lovable Russian accent. Aaron ordered Ellie and me to take the VIP on the shuttle while he and Boomer took our prisoner on the Mako. Once we got back onto the ship, Robert cuffed the turian female to one of the support beams of the shuttle bay and left Yuri and RJ to guard her. He then followed us to the elevator, where Ellie and Rex were carrying the VIP while I was working on disarming his bomb vest fast so we could get the restraints off. When the elevator stopped at Deck 2, Dr. Robertson already had a gurney waiting. We put the VIP on the gurney and follow him into the med bay.

"Come on then, Lucas, can you disarm the vest?" The doctor asked me just as I finished disarming the explosives.

"Yup, explosives are disarmed; now let me see if I can unlock these restraints," I answered as I unlocked the VIP's handcuffs. Then I moved on to the shackles on his legs, as apparently this stuff had to be taken off in sequence or the bomb vest would rearm and detonate. Finally, the blinded helmet. I pressed a couple of buttons on the collar, and it came off while the helmet slowly unlocked and opened up. The helmet opened to reveal the VIP's face; a face that I didn't think any of us would ever see in person.

"Oh my God, Dad?!"

Wait, WHAT?!

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Take a guess. I dare ya. Okay, if you haven't done so already, this is like the point-of-no-return where you should read at least the first three chapters of** **RedHawk09's story "**_**Mass Effect 3: Deception**_**". His is a great story all on its own, but it's only those first three chapters that could really apply to my story. There will be some stuff next chapter that will be clarified if you read the first three chapters of "**_**Mass Effect 3: Deception**_**". Like I said earlier, though, it's not completely necessary to read chapters 1-3 of "**_**Mass Effect 3: Deception**_**" to understand the backstory of this story but I still recommend reading it nonetheless.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Oh, YES! I have been itching to get to this chapter! This one is gonna be good! If you haven't read** **RedHawk09's story "**_**Mass Effect 3: Deception**_**", tell you what: at the end of this chapter, I'll explain what it is about Red's story that's important to mine.**

**Usual disclaimer:** **I don't own Mass Effect.**

**Chapter 5: Mind… BLOWN**

_SSV Marathon SR-3 Med Bay, July 11, 2213-_

The helmet slowly unlocked and opened up to reveal the VIP's face; a face that I didn't think any of us would ever see in person.

Holy.

SHIT.

Lying unconscious before us, the Alliance VIP was none other than the nigh godlike Commander John Shepard. A female voice interrupted Rex, Boomer and me fainting.

"Oh my God, Dad?!" It was Ellie, looking at the Commander with a look of shock and worry on her face.

"Wh-'DAD'?!" Rex, Boomer and I all shouted at once. If we lived in a cartoon, mine, Aaron's, and Robbie's chins would be on the floor of the hangar a deck below us, smashed through holes in the Med Bay floor caused by our jaws dropping so hard. The 3 of us just stared at Elianna with our mouths open, our brains incapable of coming up with a coherent thought. Remember how I said that when we first met her we just stood there probably looking like complete idiots? We looked ten times stupider now.

"Hold on, boys. I've got just the thing," Dr. Robertson said in his British accent, not sounding mind-fucked in the least. He then handed the three of us each a glass of single malt scotch. "Bottoms up," he said as he drank his own glass. The three of us followed suit, not saying anything until we were pretty sure that the alcohol had dilated our arteries enough to prevent a stroke within the next few minutes.

Me, Rex, and Boomer all had the same question on our minds.

I started. "So-so-so what you're-you're saying is-is that…"

"… The-the-the great C-Commander Sh-Sh-Shepard is-is-is-is…" Rex continued.

"... You-your FATHER?!" Robert managed to finish up just before the brain aneurysm.

Ellie looked back at us, looking both ashamed and embarrassed. "Um, yeah?" she answered with an upward inflection at the end like a question, as if she was afraid of our reaction.

"Uuuggghhhh… what the –ow- hell happened?" the Commander asked as he was sitting up, clutching his head with one hand like he was hung over (which is actually kind of a real possibility, given that the turians may have drugged him). Wait, holy shit! We're in the presence of the legendary Commander Shepard, and he's conscious! This is an event that I didn't think would ever happen in a trillion years. Immediately I stood at attention with my hand in salute position. Rex and Boomer must've been thinking along the same lines I was, 'cuz they were standing at attention with their hands in salute position, too.

"Commander, I'm afraid I must insist that you lay back down, sir," Dr. Robertson said, all doctor's orders-like. "Doctor Alan Robertson, Chief Medical Officer here aboard the SSV Marathon. Now seriously, you must lay back down sir; doctor's orders."

"Alright, alright I'm –ow- lying back down. Seriously, though, what happened?" The Commander asked.

"I was about to ask the very same thing, Commander. An honor to meet you, by the way," Captain Lander said as she walked into the Med Bay. "Fireteam Neo, report. What exactly happened down there and why in the hell is there a turian chained to a support beam in the hangar of my ship?"

"Hardass, isn't she Doctor?" we heard the Commander say quietly to the doctor examining him, who snickered in response. Aaron explained the situation to the captain.

"Well, it turns out that our terrorists on Merracronth were going to sell a large shipment of military-grade weapons to a group of turians in exchange for Commander Shepard here. The turian female in the hangar seemed to be the leader of the group of turians that came to the exchange. We were unable to capture any of the terrorists that were present. Given how far we are from the nearest turian colony - in addition to our proximity to the Terminus Systems - I don't think the female we caught – or any of her friends - is affiliated with the Hierarchy at all, which would kinda make it a bad idea to simply turn her over to them until we know more."

"Agreed. Alright then, get downstairs and see if you can get some information out of her. Maybe we can find out who these terrorists are."

"I know who those terrorists are…" Commander Shepard said, sitting up like he was too badass to need a doctor after _only_ getting captured (which in my opinion [and mine, of course] is totally true). "but you're not gonna like it. They're Cerberus."

And then for only the second time in the last four and a half minutes, I felt like my brain was getting blown out the front of my skull. Shit. It's fucking Cerberus we're up against?

"But Dad, I thought you destroyed Cerberus during the Reaper War; you personally killed their top assassin and The Illusive Man," Elianna voiced all of our confusion to her father… The legendary Commander Shepard. Gonna need some time to wrap my head around that.

"So did I, but just before we took back Earth, The Illusive Man told me that Cerberus was an idea, and that that idea doesn't die so easily. It took almost 30 years, but I guess he was proven right," the commander said. "I don't know who these turians are, but if they're working with Cerberus…"

"Then something big is about to go down," Robbie finished as a chill went down everyone's spine.

The captain put on a serious face. "Neo, get downstairs. Find out who that turian is, who she works for, what they're planning and how Cerberus is involved," she ordered. "JC! Get us back to Alliance space on the double!" she told the pilot over the radio as she headed for the Med Bay door. She looked at the doctor, "Robertson, make sure the Commander is okay. I don't wanna have to give the Council damaged goods," she said as she walked out. The rest of us went to the hangar to get our information.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Sweet freaking God! Having school get in the way of writing this story -which is one of the most fun things I've ever done- was INFURIATING! Compared to some of the other hiatuses I've seen on this site it wasn't long at all, but it was INFURIATING nonetheless.**


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